When publications such as books are to be published, typesetting is conducted based on the manuscript created by an author, and test printing is performed. This test-printed document (called a proof print) is checked by a proofreader who writes proofreader's marks at the positions to be corrected in a proofreading step. These proofreader's marks are employed to perform automatic or manual proofreading process so that a document (called a corrected proof) is created. Then another proofreader compares the corrected document with the document containing proofreader's marks to make sure that the first proofreading is correct. After this proofreading procedure, the second proof-read document (called a second corrected proof) is printed out.
With respect to the aforementioned proofreading, the following Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-245308, for example, discloses a document proofreading support method wherein a notation selecting section selects the replacement-from notations corresponding to replacement-to notations in a plurality of fields and the replacement-to notation in a plurality of fields corresponding to the aforementioned replacement-from notations from a proofreading dictionary, and a list creating section extracts a replacement-from notation from the proofreading dictionary for each selected replacement-to notation in a plurality of fields on the basis of the replacement-to notation, thereby creating a notation list containing the replacement-from notation and the replacement-to notation corresponding to this replacement-from notation. This document proofreading support method further includes the steps in which a similarity decision section checks if, among the notation lists over a plurality of fields, the notation group of the notation list in one field and the notation group of the notation list in other fields are similar to each other or not, and a complementation dictionary generating section generates a proofreading complementation dictionary that establishes correspondence between the notation in the notation list in other similar fields and the replacement-to notation in the topmost position of the notation list in one field, whereby a proofreading dictionary of high coverage rate is created.
Further, the following Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-242763 discloses a document proofreading device including: an electronic document control section that stores a created electronic document and converts this electronic document into visible image data; an image data printing/storage section that is configured to, when image data is printed on a sheet of paper on the basis of an instruction from an electronic document control means, store the image data in a plurality of IC tags; a proofreading instruction section that gives a proofreading instruction to the document printed on a sheet of paper through operation of the image data stored in a plurality of IC tags for each IC tag; and a proofreading content reading section that reads the proofreading instruction by acquiring the image data modified by the proofreading instruction section, from a plurality of IC tags.
As described above, proofreading process and second proofreading process are essential to create the final document. The proofreading process can be improved by using the aforementioned conventional art, on one hand. On the other hand, the second proofreading process includes the step of comparing the corrected document with the document containing proofreader's marks. The proofreader's marks are based on various forms of personal rules. Thus, when the proofreader and proofreader for the second proofreading use proofreader's marks based on different rules, the proofreader for the second proofreading is required to recognize the proofreader's marks used by the proofreader. This requires much time and includes a higher rate of occurrence of errors. Especially when proofreader's marks based on different rules are to be used by a plurality of proofreaders, the proofreader for the second proofreading is required to recognize the proofreader's marks based on a plurality of rules. This requires much more time for the second proofreading process and involves a greater chance of causing errors.